Avarice | Sample 10 Chapters

A v a r i c e | N i n e

N i n e

❝Inspire for them to be better;

Don't think twice to get her.❞

I HAD SPARE TIME ON MY hands before I had to go see Lilith, so I ran some errands for mother and visited the Trill family to see how they were doing. As I suspected, they weren't handling Lydia's death very well, and Edward was still upset about his mother leaving town. I decided I would stop at the tavern to see if maybe she was around, just like everyone was always talking about.

I didn't reach the pub before I was stopped by the infamous Cain. Correction, I stopped him. I spotted him within a crowd of people standing around and simply could not help myself. It was outside of the pub, so I wasn't really off-track. I just wanted to hear what he had to say, that was all.

It was a rally. He shouted about the lycanthropes just like the Irishman had. He stood on a chair outside of the pub, his hands cupped around his mouth and spurted everything I had heard before. The men and women around him were getting riled up, so it was obviously working.

"...let them kill off all of us? Or are we going to fight back?" he questioned his audience. The veins in his neck were strained and his face was red from shouting so much.

I managed to push through the crowd until I was right up front and had a good look at Cain. He was definitely older than me, but not by much. He was perhaps 27 years old at most. He had tanned skin that made me suspect that he wasn't from here. The sun was hardly ever out. He probably travelled from the south. He had brown hair, blue eyes; a handsome man. The only thing that really stood out about him was a lock of hair that was pure white. The contrast was fascinating and captivating. I couldn't help but stare at it.

Did he have that at dinner with the royals?

He must have. Right? Those things don't just appear out of nowhere. But I could not for the life of me remember. Then again, I wasn't truly seeing what he looked like then. I was more interested in what he had to say, and the mystery surrounding him.

His eyes caught mine. Recognition didn't flitter through them. His facial expression didn't change. He just stared at me for a moment's time before looking through the crowd again. He knew how to get on my nerve without even having a proper conversation with me, that was sure.

Sure, we had only had two encounters before this, but that should be enough for him to recognize me...

Five more minutes into his rant and he was done. He jumped off of his chair, grabbed my wrist, and whispered into my ear, "Wait for me," and then proceeded to have private conversations with people from the crowd all within a few seconds.

I did as I was asked and stood where I was. It took another five or so minutes until he was done talking and excused himself from interrogation. He didn't even look at me as he took my arm in his and led me away from town.

I stumbled at first, surprised, and fought him from pulling me, but it was useless. He slowed down when we were far from the pub and then started talking. "You visited Ian." He said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Was that a question?" I asked a bit sarcastically. He hadn't put me in the best of moods.

He didn't answer me. We had reached the part of town that was all houses and alleys, and he pulled me into the small wedge between one house and another. "Why did you visit Ian?" he asked me calmly, his eyes searching mine.

I glanced away. His gaze was far too intense. "I wanted to learn more about the lycanthropes."

"Why?" Cain prodded.